Worldwide emissions, stemming primarily from the burning of fossil fuels, are reaching the highest levels ever recorded. By some measures, the emissions associated with burning fossil fuels have already reached nearly 5 metric tons/person/year. Internal combustion engines, including diesel engines, are a major contributor of fossil fuel emissions. In fact, by some measures, there are over 300 million diesel engines worldwide.
Internal combustion engines, and diesel engines in particular, emit particulate matter (PM) and governments around the world are realizing that these emissions are a cause for great concern. As a result, many countries/jurisdictions, including the United States, the European Union and China, are passing regulations which require significantly reduced emissions from internal combustion engines, including diesel engines.
Accordingly, more and more, businesses are forced to comply with these new air quality standards at their own expense. Sometimes, the costs for modifying a large internal combustion engine installation to meet new regulations can exceed US $30,000 per engine.
An attributable amount of emissions created by internal combustion engines is a result of the internal combustion engines failure to convert all of the energy available in the hydrocarbon fuel (e.g., gasoline and/or diesel fuel). This incomplete conversion is often a result of what is commonly referred to as incomplete combustion of the fuel. Incomplete combustion results in an unnecessary loss of fuel efficiency and an increase in pollution.
Accordingly, it is desirable to have a system and/or method for use with an internal combustion engine that aids in achieving more complete combustion of the hydrocarbon fuel, reduced emissions, and/or better fuel economy, or otherwise improves certain metrics of the internal combustion engine.